Speaker 1: Hey, friends, thanks so much for joining us today on
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick Warren. We're so glad to have you with us.
Speaker 1: And today Rick continues in his series called Transform Together,
Speaker 1: We'll dive into God's word and discover powerful principles that
Speaker 1: can truly change our lives from the inside out spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially,
Speaker 1: and vocationally. You'll experience how God's truth brings real transformation
Speaker 1: to every part of your life. Okay, here's Pastor Rick
Speaker 1: with part one of a message called change your life
Speaker 1: by changing your Mind.
Speaker 2: Our theme for fifty days of Transformation is Romans twelve,
Speaker 2: verse two, and this week I want us to look
Speaker 2: at it in the New Living Translation. There on your outline,
Speaker 2: it says this, do not be conformed to the pattern
Speaker 2: of this world, but let God transform you into a
Speaker 2: new person by changing the way you think. We've memorized
Speaker 2: it in by the renewing of your mind. The renewing
Speaker 2: of your mind is the way that NIV puts it.
Speaker 2: The New Living Translation says, by changing the way you think. Now,
Speaker 2: let me sum up what I want to say this
Speaker 2: weekend in one sentence, God is far more interested in
Speaker 2: changing your mind than in changing your circumstances. We want
Speaker 2: God to change our circumstances. We want him to take
Speaker 2: away all the problems, all the pain, all the sorrow,
Speaker 2: all the suffering, all the sickness, all the sadness. And
Speaker 2: God says, yeah, yeah, I know that's important. But really
Speaker 2: more important than that is what's happening in you. And
Speaker 2: I'm far more interested in changing your mind before we
Speaker 2: change your circumstance. Because nothing happens in your life until
Speaker 2: you get the renewing of your mind. No transformation takes place,
Speaker 2: no change takes place in your mind. Are in your
Speaker 2: life until your thoughts begin to change. Now, why is
Speaker 2: it so important that I learned how to manage my mind?
Speaker 2: We've looked at physical health, we looked at spiritual health.
Speaker 2: This weekend, I want us to look at mental health.
Speaker 2: How do I have a healthy mind? And why is
Speaker 2: it important that I manage my thought life? Let me
Speaker 2: give you three reasons you might write these down. Number one,
Speaker 2: because my thoughts control my life. My thoughts control my life.
Speaker 2: Every single action always begins as a thought. If you
Speaker 2: don't think it you don't do it. Now, that's both
Speaker 2: good and bad. If you don't think it, you don't
Speaker 2: do it. If it's a good thought, then then you're
Speaker 2: gonna do good. If it's a bad thought, you're gonna
Speaker 2: do bad. But my thoughts control my life. Proverbs for
Speaker 2: twenty three and today's English version says, be careful how
Speaker 2: you think your life. Life is shaped circle that word shaped.
Speaker 2: Your life is shaped by your thoughts. He goes, well,
Speaker 2: I was just thinking it. Well, you don't realize how
Speaker 2: important the thought is. The Bible says the power of
Speaker 2: your mind, The power of your thoughts says tremniscibility to
Speaker 2: shape your life, for good or for bad. And if
Speaker 2: you accept the thought, if growing up somebody said to
Speaker 2: you you're worthless, you're no good, you don't matter, you're ugly,
Speaker 2: you're uncoordinated. If you accepted that fact, whether it was
Speaker 2: right or wrong, it's shaped your life. We're always interested
Speaker 2: in our feelings, and we're going to look at feelings
Speaker 2: next week when we looked at emotional health. But your
Speaker 2: feelings don't shape your life. Your beliefs do. And it
Speaker 2: doesn't even have to be true. If you believe it,
Speaker 2: it's going to shape your life. And a lot of
Speaker 2: you were taught things as a kid about you that
Speaker 2: just weren't true, and years later you're still acting on
Speaker 2: false information. Be transformed by changing the way you think.
Speaker 2: Because my thought, let's control my life, both good and bad.
Speaker 2: Number two, I need to manage my mind because my
Speaker 2: mind is the battleground for sin. It's where I win
Speaker 2: or lose the battle. In fact, all temptation happens in
Speaker 2: the mind. We think temptation is something out there, something external,
Speaker 2: something that happens that we see out there and say, oh,
Speaker 2: that's tempting to me. It wouldn't tempt you if there
Speaker 2: wasn't a corollary desire inside you. All temptation happens in
Speaker 2: your mind, between your ears, and as a result, sin
Speaker 2: happens in your mind. It happens between your ears. When
Speaker 2: we talk about the sins of pride or lust, or
Speaker 2: bitterness or hatred, or anger, or fear or resentment or
Speaker 2: envy or worry, where are those things? They're all in
Speaker 2: your mind. If you can learn how to manage your mind,
Speaker 2: you've learned how to manage your life. This is where
Speaker 2: the battle ground is. Paul and Romans, Chapter seven, is
Speaker 2: very articulate in explaining how we've all felt in this
Speaker 2: battle that pulls us many different directions in our mind.
Speaker 2: Paul says this Roman twenty three. I love to do
Speaker 2: God's will so far as my new nature is concerned.
Speaker 2: But and that's always a big butt okay. But there's
Speaker 2: something else deep within me that is at war with
Speaker 2: my mind and wins the fight and makes me a
Speaker 2: slave to the sin within me. In my mind, I
Speaker 2: want to be God's servant, but instead I find myself
Speaker 2: still enslaved to sin. And we can all identify that.
Speaker 2: I want you to circle some words in that passage war.
Speaker 2: Circle the word war, the word fight, the word slave,
Speaker 2: the word enslaved. What's he saying. He's saying there's a
Speaker 2: battle in your brain. It's one of the reasons why
Speaker 2: you get mentally fatigued, because there's a battle in your
Speaker 2: brain and it's going on twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you're conscious of that battle, and sometimes you're unconscious
Speaker 2: of that battle. But it's going on in your life.
Speaker 2: And the reason why that battle in your brain is
Speaker 2: going on and it's debilitating, it's because it's so intense.
Speaker 2: And the reason why it's so intense. Is because your brain,
Speaker 2: your mind, is your greatest asset. Satan wants to control
Speaker 2: your mind. The world wants to control your mind. And
Speaker 2: there's a battle for the way you think. Why Because
Speaker 2: whatever gets your attention gets you. So I need to
Speaker 2: manage my mind, because my thoughts control my life, and
Speaker 2: because my mind is the battleground for sin and temptation.
Speaker 2: Number three, because it's the key to peace and life,
Speaker 2: our happiness. Because managing my mind is actually the key
Speaker 2: to peace and the key to happiness. If you learn
Speaker 2: what we're going to talk about this weekend, and you
Speaker 2: begin to plat in your life, your peace of mind
Speaker 2: will go up dramatically, and so will your happiness, and
Speaker 2: so will your understanding enjoyment of life. An unmanaged mind
Speaker 2: leads to tension. A managed mind leads to tranquility. An
Speaker 2: unmanaged mind leads to pressure. A managed mind leads to peace.
Speaker 2: An unmanaged mind leads to conflict and chaos. A managed
Speaker 2: mind leads to confidence. An unmanaged mind leads to stress.
Speaker 2: If you don't manage your thoughts, you just let them
Speaker 2: go all over the place. You don't ever even try
Speaker 2: to control your mind, and the way you direct your
Speaker 2: thought though you're gonna have enormous amount of stress in
Speaker 2: your life. But a managed mind leads to strength, and
Speaker 2: leads to security and leads to serenity. The Bible says
Speaker 2: it like this in Romans eighty six. If your sinful
Speaker 2: nature controls your mind, there is death. Well, by the way,
Speaker 2: what is death. It's the opposite of life. You're not
Speaker 2: really living. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind,
Speaker 2: there is life and peace. I want us to look
Speaker 2: at three choices that you must make on a daily
Speaker 2: basis in order to have a healthy mind. A lot
Speaker 2: of people don't realize that you can control your thoughts.
Speaker 2: I'll be oh, my thoughts are uncontrollable. No, you think
Speaker 2: they're uncontrollable. But you can control your thoughts. In fact,
Speaker 2: nobody else can. Satan can't control your thoughts. He can
Speaker 2: suggest he'd like to, but he can't control your thoughts.
Speaker 2: Only you can control your thoughts. And God isn't to
Speaker 2: control your thoughts. I mean, you don't need to pray
Speaker 2: if you're having bad thoughts. You're having scary thoughts, you're
Speaker 2: having guilty thoughts, you're having lonely thoughts, you're having depressed
Speaker 2: and discouraged thoughts. It doesn't really help, say God, change
Speaker 2: my thoughts. God's gonna say it's your mind. You do it.
Speaker 2: You know, all you have to do is click the
Speaker 2: channel changer. You don't have to be thinking about what
Speaker 2: you're thinking about right now. Nobody's holding the gun to
Speaker 2: your head. You could do it. You could make that change.
Speaker 2: Your thoughts are highly controllable. If I want to have
Speaker 2: a healthy mind, I want to break free from all
Speaker 2: of those bad patterns of the way I've been thinking.
Speaker 2: What I need to do is make some choices. And
Speaker 2: the Bible says there are three choices for a healthy mind.
Speaker 2: I have to feed my mind. I have to free
Speaker 2: my mind, and I have to focus my mind. Let's
Speaker 2: look at these three things. They're all choices, and you
Speaker 2: have to choose them, not just once in your lifetime,
Speaker 2: but on a moment by moment basis. All right, let's
Speaker 2: look at what the Bible says. Number one, if I
Speaker 2: want to have a healthy mind, I must feed my
Speaker 2: mind with truth. I must feed my mind with the truth.
Speaker 2: Now we all know the importance of nutrition. Good food
Speaker 2: and good calories cause you to be better, to be stronger,
Speaker 2: to be healthier, to have more energy. Bad calories, bad
Speaker 2: junk food, things that don't do good harm your body.
Speaker 2: The same is true in your thought life. I must
Speaker 2: feed my mind not with junk, not with poison, but
Speaker 2: with truth. Jesus said it like this, you will know
Speaker 2: the truth, and the truth we'll set you free. One
Speaker 2: time I was given the privilege of lecturing at Oxford
Speaker 2: University and actually at Cambridge also in the same month
Speaker 2: in England. And while I was there, I was invited
Speaker 2: to go to a meeting of Oxford Analytica. This is
Speaker 2: a group you've never heard of, but has enormous influence
Speaker 2: in the world. World. Every day, at about five point
Speaker 2: thirty six a m. The leading scholars of Oxford gather
Speaker 2: in a room to get reports from all around the
Speaker 2: world and what's happened in the last twenty four hours.
Speaker 2: They then discuss these things, everything from crop prices in
Speaker 2: China to unrest in the Middle East, to the weather
Speaker 2: on the East Coast and all kinds of things like this,
Speaker 2: and then they make a decision about what needs to
Speaker 2: be said about it. And then they say, who's the
Speaker 2: best person in the world who knows the most about this?
Speaker 2: And they send a note to that person. They email
Speaker 2: that person. By eleven o'clock that morning, a report has
Speaker 2: been given. And then that report, the Oxford Analytical Report,
Speaker 2: is paid for by groups like the United States, CIA,
Speaker 2: the Soviet Union, are now the Republic of Russia, China,
Speaker 2: world leaders, major core operations. They all look to Oxford
Speaker 2: Analytica to get their daily report and they pay big
Speaker 2: bucks for this information. And I got to sit in
Speaker 2: on one of the meetings. They invited me to watch
Speaker 2: what was happening. It was about twenty people sitting in
Speaker 2: a room early early in the morning. And Oxford Analytica
Speaker 2: was founding on the idea that the best leaders make
Speaker 2: the best decisions when they have the best information. And
Speaker 2: even if you are a good leader, if you don't
Speaker 2: have the best information, you're going to make a bad decisions.
Speaker 2: That makes sense, Yeah, So you got to have the
Speaker 2: best information to make the best decision. And that whole
Speaker 2: purpose was to get the best information on the world
Speaker 2: situation in the last twenty four hours. Well you're not
Speaker 2: Oxford Analytica, but you need the best information to live
Speaker 2: the best life that God wants you to live. And
Speaker 2: that information is right here in the Word of God.
Speaker 2: It's called the truth. The Bible says in Matthew four
Speaker 2: to four. People need more than bread for their life.
Speaker 2: They must feed on every word of God. God the
Speaker 2: Bible is our soul food. It's our owner's manual for life. Now,
Speaker 2: when should I feed my mind truth? I mean, when
Speaker 2: should I do this? And the answer is all the time,
Speaker 2: throughout the day, morning, noon, and night. You know, they
Speaker 2: tell you that the best way to eat is to
Speaker 2: eat just little every couple hours, rather than to eat
Speaker 2: big meals and then go long hours without eating. But
Speaker 2: to eat constantly, just kind of nibble your way through
Speaker 2: the day, eating the right food. It keeps your blood
Speaker 2: sugar level and all things like that. Same is true
Speaker 2: with truth. If you're constantly thinking about truth, it's going
Speaker 2: to renew your mind, it's going to change your mind.
Speaker 2: Let me give you some examples of this. Here's David.
Speaker 2: Here's three verses from David Psalm one nineteen. I rise
Speaker 2: early to cry out for help. That's prayer, and to
Speaker 2: put my hope in your words. That's Bible study circle
Speaker 2: the word hope. He says, I start every morning talking
Speaker 2: to you, I cry out in prayer and listening to you.
Speaker 2: I read your word, and he says, I look for
Speaker 2: the hope in your word. There are over seven thousand
Speaker 2: promises in this book, seven thousand of them. If you
Speaker 2: want to have your mind renewed, become a promise person,
Speaker 2: begin to learn, memorize, think on this. If you feel
Speaker 2: pretty hopeless about your situation, you're not spending enough time
Speaker 2: in the promises of God, because they're there. He says,
Speaker 2: I start my day with hope. Are you starting your
Speaker 2: day with hope or with despair? He says, I start
Speaker 2: it there. And then the next verse he says, Lord,
Speaker 2: how I love your word. I think about it all
Speaker 2: day long. You might circle that. And then Psalm sixteen,
Speaker 2: verse seven, he says, even in the darkest of night,
Speaker 2: your teachings fill my mind. So he say say, early
Speaker 2: in the morning, all through the day, and even late
Speaker 2: at night, I'm thinking about God's truth. That's why David
Speaker 2: is called a man after God's own heart. Let me
Speaker 2: just give you one example of how serious David was
Speaker 2: about filling his mind with the truth of God's word.
Speaker 2: I told you last week that he spent a large
Speaker 2: part of his life running for his life because the
Speaker 2: king that he was going to replace in Israel wanted
Speaker 2: to kill him. Saul wanted him dead, and so David
Speaker 2: actually had to run and be a fugitive for many,
Speaker 2: many years, living in caves and moving from place to
Speaker 2: place and never knowing am I going to wake up
Speaker 2: and be killed the next day? And there were people
Speaker 2: who are actually trying to kill him. I doubt that's
Speaker 2: ever happened to you. Saw one nineteen ninety five, He says,
Speaker 2: when wicked people hide to ambush and kill me, I
Speaker 2: quietly keep my mind on your decrease. Wow, I quiet
Speaker 2: keep my mind on your decrease. Now somebody was trying
Speaker 2: to kill you, would you be thinking about the Word
Speaker 2: of God? Kind of doubt it. You'd probably be calling
Speaker 2: the police, You'd be running, you'd be bolting the door.
Speaker 2: David says, I don't care what's going in my life morning, noon, night,
Speaker 2: people trying to kill me. I have one thing I do.
Speaker 2: I keep my mind on the truth. You do that
Speaker 2: in the crisis. That's called managing your mind. I have
Speaker 2: to feed my mind daily on truth.
Speaker 1: Hey have you noticed how the world's answers to life's
Speaker 1: biggest challenges? Your relationships, finances, and even your purpose always
Speaker 1: seem to change or leave you searching for more. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the good news. God's Word offers timeless truths that
Speaker 1: can truly transform every area of your life from the
Speaker 1: inside out. And that's why Pastor Rick created the Transformed
Speaker 1: Bible Study, a life changing resource designed to help you
Speaker 1: renew your mind and discover God's principles for lasting transformation. Now,
Speaker 1: in this seventh session video and workbook study, Rick's going
Speaker 1: to guide you through all the key areas of life spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial,
Speaker 1: and vocational, equipping you with practical steps to experience real,
Speaker 1: lasting change with weekly lessons, daily devotions, and exercises that
Speaker 1: will help you dive deeper into God's Word. This study
Speaker 1: is perfect for personal growth or sharing with your small group.
Speaker 1: Request the transform Study Kit today when you give a
Speaker 1: gift to Daily Hope and join us in bringing the
Speaker 1: Hope of Jesus to people around the world. Your transformation
Speaker 1: starts here. Just go to Pastorick dot com to get
Speaker 1: your copy of this great resource. That's Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: Or you can just text the word hope to seven
Speaker 1: oh three oh nine. Again, that's the word hope to
Speaker 1: seven oh three oh nine and thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us
Speaker 1: share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. We hope
Speaker 1: you'll join us next time as we continue to look
Speaker 1: into God's Word for our daily hope. And this program
Speaker 1: is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous
Speaker 1: financial support.